Yesterday we watched how Meghan was able to display ten different facial expressions in
just ten seconds.
But if you thought that was creepy, wait until you see her odd behavior with the interviewer.
Welcome back, my body language buddies! my name is Jesús Enrique Rosas, I'm the Body
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We are going to jump right in to an outrageous reaction by Meghan, when Ruben Jay, the interviewer,
dares to look away from her.
Here it goes:
- You know, what I'm able to bring to the role, I try is that... amidst all the human
things that can perhaps... who you looking for?
- You know, what I'm able to bring to the role, I try is that... amidst all the human
things that can perhaps... who you looking for?
I put the clip twice, not because Meghan's reaction was difficult to spot, but because
what the interviewer did, just looking away for a split second, was extremely easy to
miss.
And I understand that the first reaction that you might have is, why did Meghan react like
that?
Now, there is absolutely no doubt that Meghan's reaction was odd.
But before we define that emotion, it's really important to check what happened before and
after this reaction.
Let's go back in time and check what happened in the seconds prior to the clip that you
saw.
As usual, try to relax, because what we are looking for... is not the first thing that
will come to your mind.
Here it goes:
- You have to be kind to yourself.
Like it's not easy and it's ok that it's not easy and you're gonna make hiccups and mistakes
along the way, and just stick with your goals, I hope that's how women are seeing rachel
and I hope that... you know, what I'm able to bring to the role...
Ok, I'm not going to torture you with whatever was the whole answer to this, because YES,
the answer was even lONGER.
But the clip that you just saw has everything that we need at the moment.
For starters, the first words that she said.
"You have to be kind to yourself" It's truly ironic that Meghan is talking about kindness,
and yes, being kind to yourself is one of the most important things that you should
enforce in your own behavior every day, but that certainly doesn't fit with the reaction
that we saw later.
Now, about the reaction itself.
In order to confirm how ironic was Meghan's reaction to Ruben looking away, it will be
very helpful if you watch the previous clip again, but... and this is very important,
do not pay attention to Meghan's words.
Well, that will be hurtful for her, but...
Just pay attention to where Meghan's eyes go.
Where does she look.
That's all you have to see now.
Here it goes:
- You have to be kind to yourself.
Like it's not easy and it's ok that it's not easy and you're gonna make hiccups and mistakes
along the way, and just stick with your goals, I hope that's how women are seeing rachel
and I hope that... you know, what I'm able to bring to the role...
Now, we are going to cheat, and I'm going to confirm that all this time, Ruben has ben
looking straight at her, nodding, and... we guess that actively listening to Meghan.
Meghan, at the same time, makes eye contact with him, but of course, as any normal human
being, moves her eyes all over the place.
And this is normal.
This is something that we do without noticing, because moving our eyes when we talk is part
of how our brain works when recalling and crafting information so we can speak.
But there were also other signals, like this face she does when she says the words, "It's
ok if it's not easy".
I'm not going to put much pressure on Meghan for this combination of facial expression
and words, but it really felt like she was saying, "It's ok if it's not easy... anyway,
you're not me."
But no, I'm gonna cut her some slack.
The problem is that, even if Ruben was just listening, and it's good manners to look at
the person that is speaking, I find it incredibly annoying that Meghan decided to cut short
what she was saying, whatever she was saying, just to call him off about him looking behind
her back.
And this has severe implications in the way Meghan acts and judges herself.
I am NOT going to play that clip again, because I'm sure you noticed that Meghan was not being
that concrete in her answer.
She was stuttering, using crutch words, so... in cases like this is much better that you
just cut short your answer.
This can happen to you.
If you're struggling to come up with an answer to a question, the worst thing you could do
is use filler words, or canned expressions.
And yes, 'just stick with your goals' is a canned expression.
It's not bad in itself, but good communication is always succint.
And she's not giving value to her own answer, because she's giving way more weight to the
fact that Ruben looked away for less than ONE SECOND, and I measured that, frame by
frame, so she decided to just stop.
Now, she doesn't just stop, but turns around, completely, just to see who did Ruben look
at, for less than one second.
Now, I would like to invite you to comment, right now, how would you define her attitude,
stopping, and looking around.
Go ahead, share what is the word that defines the feeling that you get from her.
I'm gonna give you two more seconds and I'm going to share what this really means.
If someone stops cold whatever they are saying and turn around to see what's going on behind
them because the person they are talking to, broke eye contact for less than one second...
That is extreme insecurity.
You're not that invested in what YOU are saying, and when you lose the attention of the other
person for the tiniest bit of time, you have to turn around to look, and compare yourself
to whoever is behind you.
"Who is behind me that is so important that this man stopped looking at me for one second"
There is no other description.
And I actually feel bad for these kind of situations.
I know for a fact that acting careers are extremely fragile, volatile and most actors
and actresses really struggle with imposter syndrome.
That is constantly thinking that you're not good enough and at any time someone is going
to 'notice' and even worse, 'call you out', say that you're a fraud.
But Meghan is very proactive, and she did it before anyone else:
- I was such a fraud!
But despite how insecure a professional of acting can feel, this kind of behavior is
not normal.
Like at all.
And looks more like a tantrum.
And the fact is that you have not seen what happens AFTER this.
And you're about to watch it:
- amidst all the human things that can perhaps... who you looking for?
- noone!
- Ruben is like, looking over my shoulder to try and find somebody else.
Let's see.
Let's see, Let's see who might it be... who's on their way.
Who's this?
I forgot to mention that almost at the start of the interview, Meghan literally took the
interview cards from Ruben.
The cards where he had his previous annotations, and possible questions to the people he was
going to interview.
And she actually began skimming the questions just to see which ones were the best, or most
appropriate, or whatever.
That's HIS job, not hers.
That's why she begins to skim them again here to see which other persons he was going to
interview.
I mean, how insecure can this get?
Notice that she does that gesture getting closer to him and putting her arm over his
shoulder.
I've mentioned that gesture a couple times, about being like an ownership gesture.
Like "I own your time at this moment"
I am not saying that you don't have the right to complain if someone is being disrespectful.
And sometimes you have all the right to go full Bjork on a reporter.
But in this case Ruben was being playful and polite, I don't think Meghan's reaction was
necesary, or even made sense.
Now you know why I told you that this five minute interview has so much material to analyze.
And between body language, behavior and words, maybe in the future I can take a third look
at it.
If you want it, just show me some love with the "Like" button.
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My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
Much Love, and Bliss.